Childhood Friend of the Zenith - Chapter 89

༺ Treatment (2) ༻

Not long after I decided to take a seat and wait, the Plum Blossom Sword woke and opened her eyes.

“I heard you were hurt... but thankfully it seems like you’re healed.”

The Plum Blossom Sword spoke in a dry tone.

And all I could do was nod my head at her worriedly spoken words.

I didn’t know what to say to her.

My thoughts had grown very complicated after I caught a glimpse of the demonic Qi flowing inside her body, and I was trying my best to hide them.

“If you’d gotten seriously hurt, I would’ve been very sad. Thank goodness...”

“...Thank you for worrying about me.”

“No... I apologize for making you come all the way here when you must be busy and haven’t fully healed yet.”

“It’s no problem. The Immortal Healer told me that I can move around freely now.”

As I spoke, I tried my best to avoid looking at her.

‘That demonic Qi is too dense.’

The energy felt so dense and deep that it was incomparable to the demonic Qi Ya Hyeoljeok had.

It was much too similar to the Qi that the Heavenly Demon had...

So similar... that it honestly wouldn’t have been far-fetched to say that they were the same.

There was no way I was mistaken.

‘Is that what is responsible for the Sword Master’s declining health?’

But... Even if the demonic Qi was what was killing her, why did the Sword Master have that inside her in the first place?

I was finding out too many new things, things that I’d never seen or heard about in my previous life.

Had the Sword Master already met the Heavenly Demon in this current period of time?

Not everyone turned into a demonic human the moment demonic Qi was put inside them.

Ya Hyeoljeok and the guys from the Black Palace were examples.

And the Sword Master before me was the most recent proof of that.

However, The key difference between Ya Hyeoljeok and the Sword Master was that Ya Hyeoljeok had been slowly accepting the demonic Qi and turning into a demonic human,

While the Sword Master was refusing to accept the demonic Qi that was going wild in her body.

‘For her to look so normal on the outside when that thing is causing a rampage inside her...’

Since the Sword Master came from a taoist clan, the Qi she had inside her was most likely pure,

But even that Qi would probably be getting devoured by demonic qi.

Just by looking at her, I could tell.

The fact that the Sword Master had become so weak due to the rampaging demonic Qi made it possible for someone on my level to observe her.

The Sword Master didn’t have much Qi left in her.

And even when she’d almost run out of qi, I could see that the Sword Master was still putting up a fight, struggling against the demonic Qi that was going wild.

And even while going through such a painful process, the Sword Master never once frowned.

Even though she was suffering heavily.

The Sword Master who had been observing me while I observed her suddenly spoke, disappointment lacing her tone.

“It would have been really nice if I’d seen you a bit earlier in life, I’m sorry that I can’t even treat you to a meal...”

“...It’s not a problem at all.”

The Sword Master kept apologizing.

I didn’t know why she felt so apologetic towards me.

I understood that she was friends with my mother, but she and I were basically strangers to one other.

But even still, she’d accepted the responsibility for Gu Ryunghwa and taken her in.

I was satisfied enough with that.

Because that meant I just had to endure by myself.

‘...Though I wasn’t actually able to endure it.’

The Sword Master looked at me, hesitated slightly, and then spoke.

“...Can I hold your hand?”

“My hand?”

It was sudden at first, but I reached my hand towards her because it wasn’t a hard request.

As I reached out, I saw the Sword Master’s wrinkly hand.

“I’m sorry that my hand is wrinkly.”

‘...She really doesn’t have to apologize for such little things.’

At this point, it feels like the Sword Master is just looking for reasons to apologize to me.

While thinking that to myself, I carefully held the Sword Master’s hand.

The Sword Master then spoke while smiling bitterly.

“If I was... a bit healthier, it would’ve been nice.”

It felt like she was slowly letting go of her emotions one by one because she was nearing the end of her life...

And I didn’t know what to say in the situation before me.

Should I just remain silent?

Or could I try to flatter her by saying that it was fine no matter how she looked?

After thinking for a short moment, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t just remain silent, so I decided to say something.

She put more strength into the swings than before.

If she didn’t want to become a useless person, she had to focus.

She trained to the point when she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

To be more specific, she swung her sword until she was forced to stop.

She stopped her training only after her arms had started to shake, sweat flowing down her chin.

Gu Ryunghwa had been dedicatedly focused on strengthening herself for the past few days while also sleeping less.

“I should... go see my master now.”

She remembered that her master had come back to Mount Hua for safety.

Her master had teared up after hearing that she was able to escape from a life-threatening danger.

Saying that she was a bad teacher.

Even though Gu Ryunghwa had never once thought that she was a bad teacher.

Even though she thought that she herself was the bad one.

As she prepared to leave so that she could wash and change her clothes, she saw someone.

“Oh.”

“...”

It was Yung Pung.

And he was someone who Gu Ryunghwa felt uncomfortable around for numerous reasons.

Yung Pung, meanwhile, lowered his head in greeting when he saw Gu Ryunghwa.

Because Gu Ryunghwa was still a second-generation student.

“Senior, were you training until now?”

Gu Ryunghwa didn’t respond to Yung Pung’s question.

She just nodded slightly and walked past him.

“Too much training isn’t that-”

“Mind your own business.”

Gu Ryunghwa who had been thinking of just passing by, spoke rudely in the end.

Even she herself knew that she was in a sensitive mood.

“I’m sorry. It isn’t my place to ask...!”

Yung Pung immediately apologized to Gu Ryunghwa.

Gu Ryunghwa after hearing him, continued to walk again.

She didn’t want to look Yung Pung in the eyes.

She was still a brat who never got complimented despite her being a second-generation student,

While Yung Pung was the youngest swordman of Mount Hua unlike her.

‘...If I was him, then would it have gone differently back then?’

She wondered, thinking that he – at the very least – wouldn’t have run away in fear.

Because of her wounded pride and her guilt, Gu Ryunghwa quickly upped her gait.

After reaching her destination and making sure that no one was around, she washed herself and changed into clean clothes.

She felt herself getting better when she thought about visiting her master.

Because of that, her steps felt light even with her exhausted body.

After climbing the mountain, she arrived at the hut her master was staying in.

Gu Ryunghwa calmed down her breath so that her master wouldn’t notice that she was tired, then walked towards the hut.

– ...What did you just say?

But when she went up close, she heard the Immortal Healer’s voice.

Judging by how loud he was being, it seemed like her master was awake.

As she was about to knock on the door,

– I... may have a solution.

She stopped her hand after hearing Gu Yangcheon’s voice.

She didn’t want to see him because she felt embarrassed after saying those words to him in the morning.

‘Out of all the times...’

Gu Ryunghwa put on a complicated face and hesitated in front of the door, unsure of what to do.

‘I’ll just go inside and pretend I didn’t know he was here.’

Just as she was about to open the door after deciding on that...

– You should know that you shouldn’t even dare to joke around like that!

She heard the Immortal Healer shouting inside the hut and wondered what was going on.

– I’m not joking around.

– You aren’t joking around? Do you even understand what you just said?

– Yes.

And, even while the Immortal Healer was shouting at him, Gu Yangcheon only responded to him calmly.

However,

When she heard Gu Yangcheon utter those words without hesitation,

– I may be able to cure the Sword Master.

Gu Ryunghwa couldn’t help but barge into the hut.